The Boxing Standard

Wednesday, June 18, 2008

Bye Bye to the Big Boys

At what point did you decide that the heavyweights weren’t really worth the time it took to watch them? When did the title become so devalued that you neither cared nor even knew who held it?

I suppose an argument could be made that the thing started to go down the drain during the 1980s when a series of very talented but unmotivated guys like Greg Page, Tony Tubbs, Tim Witherspoon, and Bonecrusher Smith passed the titles back an forth, none of them holding onto them for more than a defense.

But those guys seem like colossuses compared to Lamon Brewster, Sergui Lyakovich, and Nicolai Valuev. Middle aged businessman Sultan Ibragimov simply handed over his title rather than get into a tiff with Wladimir Klitschko. He acted like their cars had been involved in a minor scrape by the side of the road; here’s my card, my insurance will pay. Sorry for the inconvenience. Nice to have met you.

I’d mind less if things weren’t so dull or I had the sense that this might be the lull before another growth period. But they are and it’s not, so I think maybe I’ll abandon the heavyweights. Luckily, there’s plenty going on elsewhere in boxing.